Brixton Beers. Part Five – The Brixton Brewery’s Effra Ale

In part five of our six part mini-series we meet the man behind the bucolic Brixton Brewery’s “Effra Ale”

According to Jez, one of Brixton Brewery’s founders, they started out life as home brewers. “Home brew – is that dads in slippers tending to plastic bins full of froth at the back of the airing cupboard?” I asked him.

“No, not really,” was his response.

He was sat on the middle rung of a stepladder in their archway brewery on Station Road, and he pointed out the label of a bottle of the brewery’s very own Effra Ale.

“In the design there’s the Windmill. And the River Effra. It was inspired by a fresco that used to be down on Effra Parade, which had this amazing image of the old, more bucolic Brixton. So I guess this beer represents Brixton’s constant change in a way.”

The Effra beer itself is pretty mellow. And as an amber ale it’s more of a session number. It’s balanced – and less pronounced – than Brixton Brewery’s other craft beers, such as the fruity Atlantic APA (a new favourite of mine). You’ll detect a bit of pine and a bit of grass in the hops, continuing along that bucolic theme. And while most of the Hops are British, one variety comes from Slovenia. (Yep, Slovenia.) All in all Effra Ale is an easy, quaffable ale, perfect for an afternoon under a tree in Brockwell Park.

Where can you buy it? On tap you can get it in The Effra Tavern. If you want to take it home with you though, head down to Market Row Wine Merchants, The House of Bottles on Coldharbour Lane, or Duggard and Daughters in Herne Hill.

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